Tipping The Scales: Knox (Mate Craze)(51)

His words weren’t new, he’d said them before, but never all together, never like this. My heart was soring and my eyes beginning to tear and we had yet to utter one vow.

“Kallie, before we say the words of our people, the ones that will start the intertwining of our souls, I’m asking you man to woman, dragon to dragon: will you be my mate?”

His hand extended and in it was a ring and not just any ring, either. This ring was forged by him, the stone sparking red and far too beautiful to be a ruby. It was something else. I looked up at him through my now tear filled eyes, to see his shirt gone, and along with the missing piece of attire was a missing scale, covered not so elegantly by a band aid.

The scale that used to protect my heart is now yours, for so is my heart. The only thing that could harm me is losing you.

His words echoed in my head as the tears fell, and I murmured, “Yes.” I jumped into his arms and covered his face with kissed until my dragon stole the moment and sunk her teeth into the crux of his neck, claiming him as her own… our own. The iron taste of his blood should’ve been creepy or weird, but as his dragon instantly took the message and did the same, there was only us, together, as one.

You went out of order, sweet mate.

His humor had my dragon letting go of her grasp on his neck. She was happy. Her part of the mating was over and she staked her claim. I was still getting used to having her, knowing she was there in the backdrop the entire time, but it was coming. And when she took over, so far it was always for the best. Claiming Knox being a perfect example.

Eh, my dragon had enough of your feet dragging.

He had no idea how many times I had to hold her back, especially when the kissing became more. She had wanted to claim him from her first day, but as a human I saw the value in waiting. Or at least I convinced myself I did. If Knox hadn’t sublet a small place near campus for us while I completed my classes, chances are I’d have claimed him before now.

Vows? Home?

His meaning behind home, and the completion of our mating not at all hidden. Not that I was any better. I wanted him so badly. Home seemed miles away.

Vows. Here?

I was being saucy. Can’t blame a girl now sporting a ring beyond all rings and about to become the equivalent of a married woman.

Naughty dragon.

Your naughty dragon.

Luckiest man alive.

“Vows?” I switched to verbal words as I peered down at my ring. His heart, it was now mine to guard for always, and I would, with all that I was.

“I, Knox Renouf, both man and beast, swear to love you, Kallie Theron, as my mate. Your needs are now my needs, your desires are now mine. All that I have is yours, my mind, my body, and my earthly belongings. Please accept all that I am as yours.”

I repeated the vows between ever glamourous sniffles and snorts due to my freely flowing tears, and when I spoke the last word, Knox leaned in, kissing my claiming mark and sending shivers down my spine.

I did the same to his claiming mark before stealing his lips and throwing every last ounce of feelings I had for him into it. The kiss became more, became everything, right there in the place of his ancestors. When we had completed all three parts of the mating ritual, I had expected to feel different. How could one not? What I didn’t expect was to feel whole for the first time in my entire life. I was whole. There was no way I deserved this bliss, but I was going to take it and hold onto it for dear life. Knox was mine as I was his. There was nothing more beautiful than that.





About Delphina Henley





Delphina has been writing since she can remember and has always had a love of the paranormal. She is an avid reader and a self-proclaimed shifter crack addict. Delphina currently lives in the Midwest with her husband and four kids.

Delphina Henley also writes as USA Today Best Selling Author Dara Fraser.



Blog: http://delphinahenley.com/



Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DelphinaHenley



Twitter: @DelphinaReads





About Lila Felix





Lila Felix is full of antics and stories. She refused to go to Kindergarten after the teacher made her take a nap on the first day of school. She staged her first protest in middle school. She almost flunked out of her first semester at Pepperdine University because she was enthralled with their library and frequently was locked in. Now her husband and three children have to put up with her rebel nature in Louisiana where her days are filled with cypress trees, crawfish, and of course her books and writing. She writes about the ordinary people who fall extraordinarily in wild, true love.



For more visit www.lilafelix.com





Read on for a sneak peek of Mated Crazed: Liam





Mate Crazed: Liam





Of all the things to get stuck with, I get felon, best friend duty in the damn hallway of the bed and breakfast. I’d done a lot of things in my life for this clan. Mostly I’d organized and kept track of all of the records fit for human eyes so that no one could pry, and I was damn good at my job.

I also kept the unofficial records straight too. We had records going all the way back to our Viking ancestors.

I was in charge of all of that.

Yet, this is what I’d been reduced to: a prison guard.

“What’s that noise?” I heard a noise inside the room. Her name was Rhi and she was the best friend of our Alpha’s new mate. I hadn’t seen her, but she was now an enemy of the clan and an enemy of the clan was an enemy to me.